Posts Tagged "british library"

Watch actor, voice-over artist, former model, author and human rights campaigner Joanna Lumley’s London Story in the video above.

During our interview Joanna told us more about why, even after nearly half a century in the UK Capital, London still excites and energises her life and work. We’ve used some of her favourite London experiences to populate our homepage www.visitlondon.com from 20 Jan-23 Jan 2014.

Here’s Joanna’s top five things to see and do in London:

Battersea Power Station and Stockwell

“I have lived in Earl’s Court, near Holland Park and in Wimbledon and now I live in Stockwell. Stockwell has a lot of extraordinary treats. It has got the most beautiful war memorial which is painted with poppies and things. Stockwell has its own personal characteristics [and] it is now linked to Nine Elms and the immense new development there. [It’s also very close to] Battersea Power Station, one of the most iconic and thrilling parts of London, with its great four chimneys sticking up, you seem to see them all around, whichever side of the river you are. The power station is being developed into restaurants and places to live and offices and cafés and shops – a theatre even. Maybe [one day] I can walk to [work at] a theatre in Battersea.”

Holland Park

“Holland Park is one of the best kept secrets in London. It is staggering, I took a Canadian friend there the other day and she was bewitched by it. It’s got parterres, winding paths, statues, its own little opera house. It has got a beautiful restaurant, an orangery. It has got formal duck ponds with ducks who have babies…little puffballs. It’s got peacocks which roost in the trees. It’s got tulips in springtime and magnolias. It’s got camellias coming out before the snow has even come off them, it’s a fantastic place. It sits between Holland Park Avenue and Kensington High Street. You can wander your way around – it’s got a football pitch, it’s got everything you could possibly want and wherever you go in it, you’ll find a new path and a new way. And you can wear smart shoes if you want to be a smart Londoner and not be muddy, or you can wear football boots.”

London in 24 hours: Open Top Bus Tour and Fish & Chips

“If you really have only got 24 hours, I think you should take one of those nice topless buses, they are terribly, terribly good, or go onto the river, where you get quite a different thing – the whole city sounds different. Take your camera and actually look at all these extraordinary places. If you can go to a museum, come to the British Library or the British Museum or the V&A or the Science Museum or the Natural History Museum. The Sir John Soane’s Museum is packed with treats. Try to focus on something properly for an hour, then skitter about like a gadfly. Eat something, I know it’s England, but you have to eat some fish and chips.”

Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Cromwell Road

“Whenever I come back to London after a long time away, the first thing I do is ask the driver to bring me straight down the Cromwell Road, towards Knightsbridge, veer off, round Hyde Park Corner, the great Quadriga of War – that fabulous chariot with four of them on top of the archway in the middle; a boy driving the horses furiously, and behind, aloft, holding the great wreath of peace, is the angel standing. Go round there, down past Buckingham Palace … and the great golden statue of Queen Victoria. Down Parliament Square, Big Ben, there it all is: still there, still gleaming.

“I think that I would die if I didn’t read books every day. Books are the most important part of my life and reading is the most important skill you can learn as a person on the planet. It doesn’t matter what else you have got. If you are able to read, you can learn everything that there has ever been known. You can read about everything, anywhere in any language, about every single thing that has ever been thought, or ever been invented, or discovered or dreamed of. So without reading, your life is dull, that’s what I say.

Every visit to London should include these top London attractions. Not only are they fascinating and unique, but they’re also all free! And we’re not the only ones to think they’re pretty good. These world-class venues were the top 10 …

From The Lord Mayor’s Show to the Regent Street Christmas Lights Switch On, there are loads of exciting events taking place in London this weekend! The Lord Mayor’s Show and Fireworks Not only does the City of London have a new …

There are loads of fascinating things to see in London this weekend, from seeing movies at a world-class film festival to viewing a stunning array of early Elizabethan jewellery at the Museum of London. BFI London Film Festival The acclaimed …

This weekend really highlights the incredible cultural diversity to be found in London. Not only can you enjoy large-scale festivals that celebrate the best of the city’s museums and traditions, but there are also many smaller events which epitomise the …

Rob Eagle’s video highlights some of the brilliant free things to do in London, from the British Museum to the Hunterian Museum. The film won the Raindance Film Festival award in UCL’s London for Free competition.

Having just returned from a three-week trip to northern India, the British Library‘s latest exhibition makes me all nostalgic. It is the first comprehensive look at the art of the Mughals, a dynasty whose empire spanned much of the Indian …

Among the events and activities celebrating Charles Dickens’ birth (the big day is 7 February), are these fun Dickens-themed apps. Follow in Dickens’ footsteps (with the aid of GPS!), examine one of his manuscripts, or enjoy a Dickensian graphic novel …

You may have caught the BBC’s Great Expectations adaptation over Christmas, and already seen the fantastic Dickens and London exhibition at the Museum of London, but for fans of London’s most famous novelist, the phrase “please sir, can I have …

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